The Hardest Assignment
by Tavern Bard
Summary: XO Lawson had been given an important assignment by the Commander. And she will strive to complete it flawlessly, as usual. Oneshot.


Summary: XO Lawson had been given an important assignment by the Commander. And she will strive to complete it flawlessly, as usual.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

* * *

Miranda Lawson was no stranger to solo assignments. As a high ranking Cerberus officer, she had been involved both in big projects with many team members and solo, and mostly, secret missions where she could only rely on herself to survive and succeed. And so far her track record was perfect. She never failed any of her mission, either it important or mundane, big or small.

However, she was currently facing what she considered as the most important solo assignment in her life. The great Commander Shepard herself had given her the order and Miranda will not fail her. Hell, the survival of the whole squad depended on her success. So there was really no room for failure. Easier said than done though. For this was the first time she had been given this kind of task and in her opinion, this was also the hardest assignment in her entire life.

Currently, she had survive with a few minor cuts and scratches, but she hadn't face the hardest part yet.

"Here we go," she whispered amid the sound of roaring fire, while she stared at the smoke that became thicker and denser the more time had pass.

Heat soared to her face and she felt like choking on smoke.

'Was the smoke supposed to be that thick,' she thought while working relentlessly with sheer determination.

After awhile she started to feel like crying but won't succumb to it. It was enough that she had shed tears in the mission to ensure Oriana's safety, she won't be that weak to cry again now.

She checked her omni tool to check the time. A few more minutes and it will be done. Now, she only have to hold on while making sure to do everything according to the instruction that, by now, she already knew by heart.

* * *

The brunette felt a swell of pride as she finally finished her assignment, almost flawlessly. She'll use some eye drops for her suffering eyes later and her cuts could be easily healed by medi gel. What was important was that she didn't fail doing her task and had proven that the commander's trust in her hadn't be in vain.

"EDI , please tell the Commander and the rest of the squad that it's done. They can all come to the mess now," said the Normandy's XO with a small smile.

"Acknowledged, Operative Lawson," responded the disembodied voice of the ship's AI.

Soon, the mess hall started to be filled by the remaining occupants of the Normandy. After the Collectors had abducted all the crews, there were only thirteen of them left, including Miranda.

And that meant that they had no cook.

"Wow, that smells nice," shouted the Commander as soon as she left the elevator.

"Yeah, let's just hope that it tastes as nice as it smell and that we won't get any food poisoning," Jack added while sitting grumpily in the furthest corner of the room. "I'll just sit here and wait until some of you have eat it and watch if anyone shows any weird symptoms."

"Fried lo mein? That's great. It's no ramen but at least it's noodles," said Kasumi while scooping some of the said noodles into her plate.

"Yes, that's the only thing that came to my mind with our limited supply," answered their cook of the day with a sour smile.

"Where's the dextro one?" asked Garrus suspiciously. "You do make some for me and Tali, right?"

"What do you take me for, Mr. Vakarian? I will not be that forgetful. Of course there's the dextro portion. Here, I've set it aside to make sure that no one else will take it. We don't need another disaster after all," she said while taking out the portion that she had put under the counter.

Shepard didn't say anything, she simply smiled widely while scooping a large portion of noodles into her plate and quickly brought it to the nearest table to start eating it.

Miranda made sure to follow the Commander with her sight. Waiting with bated breath for her reaction to the food.

After one big mouthful of noodles and meat, her CO suddenly exclaimed an 'Oh!' and started a coughing fit. Everyone in the room stared alternatively between her and her XO, until Tali had the sense to start tap her back gently and handed her a glass of water.

"Hah! I knew it! The Cheerleader is a shitty cook!" shouted Jack triumphantly from the corner.

The brunette could only stare at her CO worriedly. What the Commander said next would either safe or destroy her reputation.

"No, no, no..." wheezed Shepard while haphazardly waving her hands. "I was... going to say... how amazing it is, before I got choked on a noodle."

Apprehension was replaced with relief on the XO's face. And an unbidden wide smile came to her face.

"Well, I guess that settles it then. Miranda will be our temporary cook until we enter the Omega 4 Relay and get Gardner back," said the Commander after managing to breathe again.

And as sudden as the smile came to her mouth, it turned into a gape.

"With all due respect, Shepard, we agreed that this task will be shared between the squad members, not just one person. And just because I'm willing to be the first to do it, doesn't mean that I want to be the Normandy's temporary cook. I'm your XO for god's sake." replied the Cerberus officer with aghast.

"Well... you're right of course, as always, but come to think of it, there's no other person in this ship that I trust more with this task," said the auburn haired woman sheepishly.

"Errr... I mean you can share the task with Kasumi and perhaps... Samara?" Shepard looked to the Justicar with question in both her eyes and her tone.

"I don't cook, Shepard," answered the Asari a little too fast for her usually calm demeanor.

"Alright, so just Miranda and Kasumi then?" she said cautiously while trying to find the suddenly silent thief, without success. Apparently, she had activated her cloak and ran off with her plate of lo mein to her quarters the moment Shepard made the suggestion to make her one of the temporary cooks.

While her XO simply stared at her with a murderous glare.

"Oh, come on Miranda. It won't be for long. We will arrive at the relay tomorrow night, so you'll only have to cook two or three more times," convinced the Commander, but she only received seething silence as the reply.

So she tried another tactic. "You really rather eat Jack's cooking? Or Grunt's?"

The tattooed woman could be heard protesting with profanities, while the baby Krogan doesn't even bother to stop eating.

Hearing that, Miranda finally relented. "Oh fine then. You do have a point."

"Great! If there's no more problem, let's eat, so Miranda can wash the dishes and return to her post as soon as possible," said Shepard gleefully.

Not one second after she said that, her plate was pulled biotically. And when she looked up, her XO seemed to be sending dead threats telepathically at her direction.

"Err, I mean... Garrus will wash the dishes."

Now it was the Turian who glared at her. But compared to Miranda's, his glare looked like a stare of adoration, so Shepard simply ignored it.

* * *

Later, in her quarters, the brunette was still seething.

"Damn Shepard for making me the cook," she mumbled.

But then she remembered how the squad devoured her lo mein happily and a feeling of pride replaced her anger. And of course there was the Commander's words saying how Miranda was the one that she trusted the most with the task.

Come to think of it, she had always interested in trying to cook but never had the time to do it with her busy schedule as the right hand of the Illusive Man. Maybe she could use this chance to do it. After all, Shepard was right, she only had to cook a few more times. Certainly it wasn't that hard for someone as talented as she was.

With that in mind, she started to search for some simple recipes in the extranet. Determined to complete this task perfectly just like her any other previous assignments. After all, the survival of the squad depended on her.

End

* * *

AN: So the title of the story is actually "Miranda the Cook" but I need to make it sounds grander.

It's just some silly idea that comes to mind when I'm supposed to be working.

Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my first language and it's been a long time since I made any fic.


End file.
